On top of the world in Switzerland
We’re still at the same campsite in Switzerland.
Weather: warm and a little bit hazy!
I was up bright and early this morning to get another load of washing done – yesterday’s too an hour and a half to do. I put the electric heater on to take the chill off – well we are in the mountains, and a few minutes later the switch tripped. After resetting it, and unplugging the heater I’d succeeded in waking up J and Charlie. Still we had plans to climb up a mountain, so it would be good to set off early.
We reached the town of Meride and set off up the path at 10.10am. It’s supposed to take 1hr 40mins to climb to the top of Mount San Giorgio, but as we were climbing (OK there was a path but it was flippin steep) through the UNESCO site famed for the wealth of fossils, we kept stopping and turning over rocks looking for any trace of a dinosaur we could find.
We had no luck with the dinosaurs, but Charlie discovered he can do a good impression of Jimmy Saville (watch out Britain’s Got Talent!)
And J discovered it’s best to use a stick to turn over rocks after he found a scorpion on one of them. Apologies that it’s a little blurred in the photo, but it started to move towards J’s thumb so he threw the rock while squealing like a girl.
Two and a half hours later we’ve reached the top. We’re scoffing a picnic as I type this and looking down over Lago Lugano – the view is amazing. We can see snow capped mountains in the hazy distance. Italy on our left and Switzerland on our right.
It’s an early update today as there’s a signal up here, unlike in the campsite, and I suspect my legs won’t fancy doing any climbing this evening to send it out.
When we get back down the bbq is going on and a bottle of red is being opened, we’ve earned it.
Ju x
Euscorpius germanus, I suspect, if you were a reasonable way up a mountain. Check out http://www.ntnu.no/ub/scorpion-files/european_scorp.php and then Jay can be pre-prepared for any other unexpected encounters as you continue your travels; then he won’t have to scream so loudly next time ;-)
Your ‘lake snake’ was probably a grass snake, by the way. They like water (often find one in our pond when the weather’s nice). They hide out waiting for the frogs. Harmless, so you don’t have to scream at them!
Yep, that looks like the brute I fought off. Ahem. More like flung and legged it up the hill like Linford Christie and yelping like a dog who’s eaten a chilli. I thought it was dead so prodded it with my finger, at which point I discovered it had played me for the fool I am and brandished its pointy/stinging bits. Cue girls actions. I had no idea scorpions were found in Switzerland; this trip’s an education! Cheers boss, Jay
Judging by the photo it’s a loooong way down so I reckon you deserve a second bottle with the BBQ, that looks a mighty steep hill/mountain.
Enjoy!!
Bryce
Thanks Bryce. Today my legs are telling me it was a long way, so we’ll be having that second bottle tonight, we were too tired last night!
Julie
Hi,
As I said to you I live with my family in Italy bout 20 km from your camp in Meride.
How long will you stay here? What are your next steps?
If you need every kind of information for your visits or trips don’t hesitate to ask me.
If you are going to visit Como (I work there), it would be nice to meet you and have a lunch with you.
Bye for now
Marco
Hi Marco
I dropped you an email when you got your message through. Unfortunately we were already heading through Como when it came through as there was no signal at the campsite. We’ve got a lot of Europe to get around, so are flying through quite a lot of it. We’re now over near Bergamo and hope to visit there tomorrow, then head further east towards Venice.
We’re planning to see a mountain stage of the Giro d’Italia on 23 May, then head North to meet friends in Austria or Slovenia. We’ll be back in Italy later this year as we travel south to Greece, hopefully we might be able to have lunch then.
Please keep in touch and let us know what you think of the site – it’s good to have a local’s point of view!
Cheers
Julie